As I begin my tour of duty as your Commander, I want to recognize the outstanding record of accomplishments that have been achieved by this Post over the past three years with Jim Traner as our Commander. His leadership has been extraordinary, and Jim has worked tirelessly on behalf of the membership to make Post # 8870 a highly visible and positive influence within the Edmonds and Mukilteo communities. The Post has been restored to fiscal stability, and thanks to his inspiration, our Poppy collections have far exceeded past efforts. It was Jim’s vision that expanded Relief Fund efforts to provide assistance to veterans and active duty personnel at the local level and to support our youth by establishing the Freedom Scholarship. It was Jim’s recommendation that provided financial assistance to Boy/Girl Scouts and Little League as well as sup-porting a local Cadet Civil Air Patrol squadron. Commander Traner reached out to the Nisei Veterans Committee and established a relationship that has been rewarding for both organizations. Jim prepares the Post’s award winning monthly newsletter and maintains our web site. Perhaps, the greatest single accomplishment during his three year tenure as Post Commander has been the dramatic increase in our member-ship, and many of those new members were personally recruited by Jim. For each of Jim’s three years as Commander our membership has exceeded 100%.
Jim will continue to serve VFW as the newly elected District 1 Commander. It is my hope that the members of Post #8870 will continue to enthusiastically support Jim in this new role by attending District 1 meetings and volunteering to serve whenever help is needed. On behalf of the members of Post #8870, I want to thank Jim for his dedicated service to VFW and congratulate him for the significant contributions he has made. Jim, we salute you!